Modern Dogs Evolved From A Single Population of Wolves About 40,000 Years Ago

Kambiz Kamrani

8 months ago

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This dog cranium was discovered in Germany in 2010, next to Neolithic human remains. The skull is about 4,700 years old. Photo by Amelie Scheu

Research led by Krishna Veeramah at Stony Brook University on ancient DNA extracted from two 7,000-year-old and 4,700-year-old dog fossils discovered in Germany indicates modern dogs probably descended from just one population of wolves that lived continuously in Europe for millennia, sometime between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. They did this by counting the genetic differences, and estimating how long it would take for those differences to show up, they could roughly date when each of these groups split apart. A second divergence happened between Eastern & Western domesticated dog populations around 17,000 and 24,000 years ago.

This is where the 4,700-year-old dog skull was discovered, in a cave next to human remains. Photo: Timo Seregely